Are they really? Or are they just misunderstood?
I grew up riding ponies. I have continued to ride ponies throughout my career. Not fancy German riding ponies, bred to move and act like smaller versions of Warmbloods. No, I mean the fuzzy, furry, solidly built variety with short legs and short necks. Haflingers, Icelandics, Norwegian Fjords, Fell ponies, generic ponies without papers. I rode one who would go down on his on his front legs and roll whenever he felt like getting rid of the annoying human presence on his back. Another would make a nose dive into any visible patch of fresh grass along the arena fence or the trail. He had perfected his technique to where he would yank me right out of the saddle when I wasn’t paying attention. I rode ponies who decided to head back to the barn whenever they felt like they’d had enough. I rode ponies who had all sorts of habits that made riding them an adventure. In spite of this - or maybe because of it - I loved every minute I spent with every one of those ponies. I still love ponies. They taught me so much: about mutual respect, about managing frustration, about patience, about always having a plan B, about keeping a sense of humor when working with horses.
They also taught me to thoroughly appreciate the genius of Norman Thelwell. Ponies are not “naughty” or “stubborn” by nature - though it’s easy to call them naughty, stubborn, evil, conniving, and a litany of other negative adjectives. I’ve done it a time or two . . . or three, or three hundred. But I’ve learned over the years that perspective is everything. From the pony’s point of view, his behavior makes total sense.
I don’t want to generalize along the lines of “all ponies are x/y/z.” Just like bigger equines, ponies are individuals. At the same time, some general tendencies do set most ponies apart form most horses. Ponies tend to be naturally confident, even fearless. They tend to be very, very smart. And they tend to be voracious eaters. Think about where they’re from: places like Iceland or the Shetland islands, i.e. environments too harsh or too remote for large predators, where survival meant getting enough calories by whatever means necessary. Until pretty recently, such ponies were not bred for qualities that made them easy to ride. Instead, natural selection predisposed them to be intelligent, brave, and ruthless about food. And, for some unfathomable reason, natural selection has also made them irresistibly cute. They look adorable. They look innocent. They look so much less intimidating than larger equines. They look like perfect mounts for children or small-framed adults - and they can be.
But here’s the tricky part: Ponies, no matter how cute, still need to learn all the things big horses need to learn: how to lead, how to tie, how to load, to carry a rider, how to steer, how to stop. This can prove way more challenging than many new pony owners realize, because ot the tendencies mentioned above. It’s certainly beyond what most inexperienced riders, whether children or adults, are capable of doing. To earn a pony’s respect, we have to be firm and consistent, but always fair. We have to insist on boundaries, but we can never, ever allow differences of opinion to escalate into fights. Fighting with a pony will only teach him to fight harder, and better.
I think more people should ride ponies. It’s impossible to be in a bad mood around them, at least for me. But ponies are not easier to train because they’re smaller. They are not stubborn - but they are just as complicated to figure out as big horses.
(Thank you, Cindy Roper, for the photos)
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